Engine Cleaning

[NeedCAforS13]

Allright! Got back to work on the CA after a long break...

Here's how it sits now:

Head off... cams removed, going to replace valve oil seals, and transfer all parts from old DET head(bad) to DE head(good)... lifters, valves, springs, cams, etc...

All accessories and brackets off the block, oil pan off. With the help of Tim we've been dousing this thing in GUNK engine bright for the last hour, and we hosed out the coolant system (all the passages, and the block drain hole) You should have seen the funky colored water that came out of there... green, yellow, brown, orange:eek:

Everything shines pretty, and the whole crank/pistons/etc rotate 10x better than before. After we rinsed the gunk off (as per the directions on the can) we applied a ton of wd40 to lubricate everything, and remove all water from everywhere in the engine to prevent rust.

I am quite frankly amazed with the results of the thorough cleaning. It looks to be an almost new engine! The casting marks on the cylinder walls look almost new!:D I was told it was a 30k kilometer motor, and I'm starting to believe it...

What's next:Dissassemble the head, and clean in a similar fashion. Replace the valve oil seals, and reassemble it.

Buy a gasket set from Nissan with all new gaskets (including head gasket) and begin to reassemble the motor.

Water Pump- New from Nissan.

QUESTIONS:1.) should I go ahead and do the rings? Its an extra $80 which isn't too much, but I'm afraid if I take apart the engine that much(remove the pistons and rings), I'll fu<k something up. Dee, is it really that simple? Can I reuse the current rod bearings, or do I have to replace those too if I take the rods off?

2.)should I replace the bearings(main and rod)? Is it something I can do with a micrometer and an FSM? They are relatively cheap if I do it myself, but again, while I'm not a dumbas$ with motors, I'm also not an engine builder!

3.)what about the oil pump? Replace it now, or just go with the current one? Is there any way to inspect this to see what kind of shape its in? I've not really heard of anyone's oil pump going bad... but its not a part I want to cheap out on.

4.)There is some side to side play in the rods. Is this normal? Tim and I were thinking that's where oil drains so when there is oil in there, they don't move, but I wanted to check with someone who knows this stuff. The rods "float" on a cushion of oil, so it has to drain somewhere, and it makes sense that there might be a slight gap for it to flow back out into the oil pan, but I didn't try to move them on my old motor, and its already disassembled so I can't see if they moved either.

Thanks in advance guys:)

Sean

[NeedCAforS13]

here's afew before pictures... no after pictures yet:)

nice close up of DE pistons. if you've never seen the DET pistons, they sit flush with the top of the block, and are flat. BIG difference between the 2 pistons. (any rust in the pictures was very light surface rust from sitting in my garage for afew months now... came right off with a lil steel wool!:D)





Sean

[USDM_OneVia]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by NeedCAforS13 "]

QUESTIONS:1.) should I go ahead and do the rings? Its an extra $80 which isn't too much, but I'm afraid if I take apart the engine that much(remove the pistons and rings), I'll fu<k something up. Dee, is it really that simple? Can I reuse the current rod bearings, or do I have to replace those too if I take the rods off?

If you are going to the trouble, might as well do it. Rings aren't too bad to do. Just need to measure everything out and stagger the openings so you don't get leak by. Also I would do the rod bearings too, not too hard to do, again if you can do simple math it is easy. You will also need to replace the rod bolts. Those are like head bolts and stretch when torqued down. See if ARP makes a set or just go OEM.2.)should I replace the bearings(main and rod)? Is it something I can do with a micrometer and an FSM? They are relatively cheap if I do it myself, but again, while I'm not a dumbas$ with motors, I'm also not an engine builder!Rod bearings yes, main bearings wouldnt' worry about it. Just need some plastigauge, torque wrench, and the FSM. Should be able to figure it out yourself.

3.)what about the oil pump? Replace it now, or just go with the current one? Is there any way to inspect this to see what kind of shape its in? I've not really heard of anyone's oil pump going bad... but its not a part I want to cheap out on.You can spec it out with a micrometer and some feeler gauges. But honestly, I would just assume the stock one is good enough. I have honestly never heard of any problems with oil pumps going out.4.)There is some side to side play in the rods. Is this normal? Tim and I were thinking that's where oil drains so when there is oil in there, they don't move, but I wanted to check with someone who knows this stuff. The rods "float" on a cushion of oil, so it has to drain somewhere, and it makes sense that there might be a slight gap for it to flow back out into the oil pan, but I didn't try to move them on my old motor, and its already disassembled so I can't see if they moved either.Endplay is normal. Just make sure you micrometer it out and it is within specs.

Also.... since the motor is apart and bare, call up a shop about getting it hot-tanked. It will clean it out super good, and you can also check the head for leaks with this method too.

Joe

[paul_s13]

Originally posted by NeedCAforS13 "]3.)what about the oil pump? Replace it now, or just go with the current one? Is there any way to inspect this to see what kind of shape its in? I've not really heard of anyone's oil pump going bad... but its not a part I want to cheap out on.You can spec it out with a micrometer and some feeler gauges. But honestly, I would just assume the stock one is good enough. I have honestly never heard of any problems with oil pumps going out.

The standard pump becomes inefficient near 8000+rpm but i don't know of anyone who make an uprated item, also the standard pump doesn't cost too much so for peace of mind you might aswell get a new one.

[NeedCAforS13]

Oh I wasn't looking for an aftermarket pump, I was just talking about replacing the stock one with another stocker:) Its about $120, but I'll probably just keep this one.

Thanks Paul and Joe! TMS and Dee? suggestions...

Sean

[nab911]

If you want to replace the bearings i have a main bearing set im not oging to need that you can get for 35 shipped.

[NeedCAforS13]

I doubt I want to venture into the engine that far, but I'll get back to you if I do!:)

Sean

[paul_s13]

I doubt I want to venture into the engine that far, but I'll get back to you if I do!:)

Sean

If your going to change the rod bearings then you might aswell do the mains too, all you have to do is to take off the oil pump and the girdle that holds the end caps down, it doesn't take long at all, and I have seen/heard main bearing failures on quite a few CA's (including my own )

[nab911]

well those bearings are still here... if you dont get them, then ill use them to redo the crank on my engine when it comes in

[boost_boy]

Quote »well those bearings are still here... if you dont get them, then ill use them to redo the crank on my engine when it comes in[/quote] Easier said than done! This will require you to remove the oil pump to get the crank out and personally it's not worth it because the engine you may or will receive will either be good or bad right from the start. 'Sean' if you haven't pulled the oil pump yet, then don't because it will get the job done for you. You can leave the main bearinga alone, but I will pull the rod bearings and replace them. If you're going to use the low compression pistons, I would change the rings if I were you. It's okay for the rods to move slightly on their journals and if you're going to use the high compression pistons and DET rods, all the more reason to change the bearings. Any more questions, give me a call.

Dee

[nab911]

Well my friend said replacing the main and rod bearings is not as hard as it seems. Just remove the oil pan, undo them, replace the bearings and put it back together. Is he wrong?

[nab911]

K, next question. There is a set of rod bearings on ebay but they say they only have .25, .55, .75mm undersize available and all normal size are sold out. Does that mean for stroked motors or bored out motors??

[Myetball]

Anyone ever use a Toga high volume oil pump? Not cheap, like $210. Put one on a 4G63T we rebuilt a while back.

[boost_boy]

Quote »There is a set of rod bearings on ebay but they say they only have .25, .55, .75mm undersize available and all normal size are sold out. Does that mean for stroked motors or bored out motors??[/quote] Word of advice, buying crap on ebay will 80% of the time not be what you thought it was. Those bearing are for modified journals, not stroked; meaning for those whose journals were beat-up because they didn't have any oil in there motors or scarred the journals when there engines took a crap (A.K.A. nasty rod knock and major oil pressure loss).

Without taking out the crank, you can change all bearings except for the top main beaing closest to the flywheel side; it has no oil hole so you can't use a piece of copper wire to drive it out. You would have to use copper wire, place it in the oil holes on the cranks main journals and carefully rotate the crank to drive the bearings out. The only way to get good access to all the journals and to be able to plasti-gauge the crank is to tear apart the motor, remove the oil pump (which is not so easy at all) and then remove the crankshaft.

Why spend $1000+ on an engine just to spend a few more hundred and a crap load of time tearing it down to replace parts that probably aren't worn. I admit these engines are getting old, but if you bought a knocking eninge you should be sending it back to the people that sold it to you.

Other than that, just buy your motor and enjoy the thing. I've never purchased a raggedy CA18DEt engine RWD or FWD and all of my customers including myself are still riding on an otherwise stock CA18DET.

[nab911]

Alright, i just wanted to take all precautions on this thing because im expecting to run a long time and take a beating once in a while. So ill cancel on the bearing change but i still need to get cams and cam gears and valve springs. Where can i get some good ones and not have to learn japanese